Research from TU Delft in the Rijksmuseum

A smart alternative to the traditional sandbag and an experiment with clay to learn more about strengthening dikes. These are two examples of TU Delft research that is currently being exhibited as art at the Rijksmuseum. The photos are part of the exhibition called DUURZAAM / SUSTAIN / TENE by the artist Sharelly Emanuelson, and follow from visits to TU Delft in which she sought answers to the question: How are people involved in sustainability in their daily lives?

Earlier this year, the photographer Sharelly Emanuelson visited various sites on the TU Delft Campus, one of which was Flood Proof Holland: a living lab aimed at developing smart alternatives to the traditional sandbag, and where, for example, floods are also simulated for the purpose of testing and improving water defences. Sharelly's visit was the start of a veritable cross-pollination between art and science. ‘When I started working at TU Delft, I could not have imaged ending up in the Rijksmuseum. Or have imagined that my work would be on view in the Rijksmuseum,’ water innovation expert Lindsey Schwidder says. ‘Yet, at the same time, it’s not that strange after all. The purpose of our living lab is to appeal to people, to show them concrete things. You can do that on your own Campus, but the Rijksmuseum is a much more exciting venue.’

CO₂ conversion

In Sharelly's exhibition, the works are grouped around various themes, each of these having human activity is the focal point. The photos show us different ways in which people deal with matters such as water management, erosion and processing waste. They can have minor or major, temporary or permanent consequences. With this in mind, Emanuelson photographed numerous initiatives in the Netherlands and the six Netherlands Caribbean islands: Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten.

One of the photos that just didn’t make it to the exhibition was taken in TU Delft energy accelerator Ruud Kortlever's laboratory. Under the e-Refinery institute umbrella, Ruud and his colleagues are working on technology for electrochemically converting sustainable electricity, water and air into fuels and base chemicals. Daniël van den Berg – one of Ruud’s PhD candidates – explained what the photo shows us: ‘CO₂ is released when we burn petrol, coal or gas, for example, and this accumulates in the atmosphere. This results in a kind of blanket that causes everything underneath it to become steadily warmer. In order to be able to limit climate change (which is the result of this process) at all, we need to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This can be done by all of us reducing emissions, but CO₂ can also be removed from nature actively. The CO₂ we capture from the air can then be used to make new fuels, or raw materials for industry. In effect, you recycle the CO₂. This process – raw materials transition – is what we are trying to come to grips with at e-Refinery.’

Further information

Artist Sharelly Emanuelson’s exhibition DUURZAAM / SUSTAIN / TENE is on at the Rijksmuseum until 15 January. Would you like to find out more about the collaboration between Sharelly (art) and Lindsey (science)? Then watch this video. In the video, Sharelly explains how the exhibition came about, and also tells us more about the relationship between science and art. There are inputs from various scientists as well. They explain their contributions to combating climate change, or accelerating the energy transition. And they tell us what they think of their work being turned into art.